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>> Brazil's leftist candidate, Fernando Haddad has heard a slew of creative pronunciations for his name, like Haddad and Hadilla. That's because many Brazilian voters had never heard of Huddad. But instantly knew what he stood for, when he replaced the jailed leader of the Workers' Party. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva known simply as Lula.

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>> Lula. Reuters correspondent Anthony Bodo.>> Haddad entered the race late because the party's founder Lula held on to the candidacy until the very last moment. To make his point that he was being politically persecuted by being jailed and barred from running in the election, even though he's Brazil's most popular politician.

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Once he was confirmed as the PT's official candidate, Haddad surged in the polls. And he is challenging the front-runner Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right politician.>> In Brazil's most polarized election in a generation, Haddad is seen by critics as Lula's puppet, who will release him from jail as soon as he's elected.

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The 55 year old law professor has vowed not to do that, attempting to show voters he's his own man. Another challenge? Convincing voters he can avoid his parties missteps, with Latin America's largest economy mired in its worst recession.>> On financial markets, Haddad is seen as a moderate who would be fiscally responsible.

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And would pass some sort of reform of the costly pension system, which is necessary to bridge a wide deficit. Haddad's reached out to investors in recent weeks, and some of them have told Reuters that they were impressed with his commitment to orthodox economic policies.>> His other commitment, make Brazil happy again.

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Playing to the nostalgia of working class Brazilians who greatly benefited from Lula's generous social programs amid a global commodity boom. That message has connected with poorer voters, even if some can't pronounce his name.>>